July Was Hottest Month on Record

Climatologist point to long-term trend

July was the hottest month ever recorded in the United States, according to a monthly climate review from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last month's temperatures, averaging 77.6 degrees Fahrenheit, beat out the 1930s Dust Bowl era record by 3.3 degrees. Higher-than-average temperatures have contributed to wildfires and widespread drought. “This clearly shows a longer-term warming trend in the U.S., not just one really hot month,” Jake Crouch, a climatologist at the agency’s National Climatic Data Center, told the New York Times. Last month, NOAA, which has been keeping track of national temperature records since 1895, announced that the past year was the hottest on record.